Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

No shuttle today. In fact, I met one of the two drivers of the shuttle as I entered the gate, after having already rode all the way to school.

I almost forgot my exam at home this morning. I was already in the tricycle about 10 meters from the house when I remembered. What's strange is that my mind was already going through contingency plans of reprinting the whole batch of questions (luckily I brought the file in a disk with me) or using the same exam I gave last Thursday before I decided to turn back.

This is also partly due to my housemate again still taking a bath when I woke up. In fact, I caught up with him on the road afterwards and we rode the same trike going out.

Still playing catch up on events of the past twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

Yesterday I forgot to mention that even though I already double-checked the exam twice before printing it out, there were still errors in the final copy due to the word processor's automatic numbering restarting the count twice in the middle of the document. Luckily it was going to be photo-stencilled so I just took the correction fluid to the incorrect item numbers and typed over them with the typewriter.

I had the questionnaires and the answer sheets distributed to the proctors' desks by mid-afternoon, of course putting myself in the preferred section (and that's NOT the 1250pm class).

The Algebra exam (all 10 copies of 2 pages on my own custom size paper) I finished before the afternoon ended. I simply tweaked most of the questions from the early part of the exam so that it appeared to be the same as the one last Thursday, if the description the student who took that exam wasn't all that exact.

Then I kept the questions from the latter part of the exam, the same ones from the book that the student could have practiced on, and could just point out to his classmates. So if they did study from the book, that part would be easy for them.

My thesis advisee asked questions several times during the day, including requesting for my celphone number, which he had lost when he switched phones (not that he needed it calling the department all the time).

One panelist also told him she was only available on December 15. That's good, I said, because that means I don't have to ditch the overnight out-of-town team building Christmas party of the majors' student organization on Dec. 17-18 to accomodate him. I told him of my exam on that day, and another proctoring schedule I have from 1-3pm. He should work around that looking for a common time.

He also had to talk to me just to say that he didn't know how to get hold of one panelist, the same one he had difficulty reaching last term, although it just needed a little more effort on his part.

He said that panelist, Ricky, had a class in one of the laboratories, but waiting at the end of the corridor, he did not see Ricky leave any of the rooms. Why wait at the end of the corridor? Why not check all the rooms and see which one he would be in then wait outside that one?

Last term he also already saw Ricky just outside the faculty room. Ricky waved at him to wait while he attended to something. By the time Ricky finished, the student wasn't there anymore, who had no suitable explanation why he didn't wait that time.

I just told him to leave his draft and a note for Ricky. Where should he leave it, he asked, in the pigeonbox or on his desk? Do I have to make all those decisions for him? Make two copies, I said, just to be sure his panelist gets it, and leave his contact information.

I know he's eager to get this whole thing over with, probably almost as much as I do, but it doesn't give him the excuse from thinking clearly and sensibly the closer his deadline draws near, although - again - if he showed that aptitude early on, he wouldn't have taken this long.

Okay, my four-hour proctoring stint is about to begin. More in the coming week.